The invention relates to the field of systems and layouts for printing indicia on labels, and more particularly to a system for guiding a user as to the proper way to feed sheets of labels without indicia into a printer, so that the indicia can be properly printed on the sheets of labels regardless of the printer used, and a label layout for use with the system.
Providers of internet postage systems have long experienced occasional problems with misprinted postage. Some of these misprints are caused by a user feeding a sheet of blank labels into a printer in an incorrect orientation. Stamps.com has recently introduced its NetStamps™ labels and system, which are specialized sheets of labels and software for use therewith, whose labels are designed to be printed with postage indicia but not a date code or a mailing address code. Stamps.com's NetStamps™ labels can be printed with postage indicia one at a time (e.g. a $0.37 first class stamp), or an entire sheet can be printed with the same postage value. Since the process of printing an entire sheet of labels with indicia carries the risk of printing an entire sheet of labels incorrectly and thus creating invalid postage, it is important that these label sheets be fed into the printer in the proper orientation. Computer printers often vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and model to model as to how label sheets must be fed in for properly oriented printing. Users can sometimes become confused and make errors and forget how to feed blank label sheets into printers, and accordingly, frequently make errors and print invalid postage labels.
The U.S. Postal Service (“USPS”) maintains very strict requirements that PC postage users must adhere to with respect to processing and refunding misprinted postage. Currently, physical proof of misprints is required for money to be reimbursed by the USPS. When a user misprints and seeks to obtain a refund, the process is both time consuming and troublesome. A user must often wait several weeks for a misprint reimbursement request to be processed, and during this time they will not have replacement funds in their PC mail meter. Misprints can therefore be more costly up front for a user if they must put additional postage into their meter before obtaining a refund. While printing one label on a sheet with the indicia incorrectly oriented may not be a problem for a user, misprinting one or several sheets of label with invalid indicia can become burdensome and costly.
It is accordingly desirable to have provided a system for helping guide a user as to the proper way to feed sheets of labels without indicia into a printer, so that the indicia can be properly printed onto the sheets of labels regardless of the printer used, and a label layout for use with the system.